The Mobian Resistance Chronicles
by TheLord'sDog
Summary: 4 years after Dr. Robotnik conquered Mobius a chance discovery pushes two different resistance groups together. Can the groups work together before Dr. Robotnik completes his most destructive invention? Can an egotistical hedgehog work with a desperate Princess trying regain her authority and her throne? Can Mobius ever be free? AU and slightly grim.
1. Prologue Welcome to the Machine

_**Authors note and disclaimers:**_

 _ **The premise of this story is simple; how two separate resistance groups one led by Sonic and the other by Sally unite together to defeat Robotnik. However it will focus around a number of different characters, not all of them fighting for good against evil. Some seek vengeance or material gain. The story will have plenty of action and a bit of romance along the way although I'm keeping the shipping hidden for now so as not to distract from the story.**_

 _ **The first two chapters will serve as prologues set four years before the main storyline.**_

 _ **It's completely AU and as a result I'm aware it might not be for everyone's tastes. It includes characters and locations from various different Sonic franchises all mixed together.**_

 _ **Because its AU most characters have been tweaked, some have changed role and some might appear completely OOC. However, I consider this legitimate as it's an AU story as long as the way I'm writing the characters stays consistent. There are a couple of OCs, for example, one is the main character of the prologue but they are side characters, for the most part to serve as extras or cannon fodder.**_

 _ **I have rated it a T due to violence and themes. Its a bit grim in places.**_

 _ **Obviously I do not own Sonic and all character and locations belong to their various owners except for the ones I created.**_

* * *

 **The Mobian Resistance Chronicles**

 **Prologue- Welcome To The Machine**

 _Location; An unknown industrial facility about three hundred and fifty miles inside Dominion Territory, Western Continent of Mobius_

 _Date: 1955 hours, 11_ _th_ _April 2876, (zero day minus two)_

 _It was quiet, far too quiet,_ the rabbit thought as he surveyed the towers and smokestacks of the facility. Recon Private Jack Lopes hated the cliché but it felt more than appropriate this deep inside the Dominion. There was nothing, not a sign of life anywhere.

Before he'd set out the other scouts had told him horror stories about walking through vast ghost towns and deserted cities where the silence had become oppressing. But the rabbit hadn't believed a word of it; whole nations don't just vanish. No, it was just some rumour made up to scare the newbies. But now, now that he'd been inside the dominion for five days. Now that he'd walked through the sprawling industrial cities without seeing a living soul, he'd come to the worrying conclusion that the other scouts were right.

This silence from the Dominion had been the case for the past three months; ever since the that madman, Dr Ivo Robotnik, with his promises of a revolution that would wipe out the 'animal plague' with a 'secret weapon' and return the Overlanders to their 'rightful position' over the 'beasts' had been elected to the presidency. The Acorn kingdom, the most powerful Mobian nation on the western continent, had never had a particularly healthy relation with the arrogant Overlanders so at first they'd paid little attention. However, after Acorn intelligence kept hearing the same strange stories; that the Dominion's trains ran without passengers. That the radio still broadcast but no one listened and the Dominion population seemed to have disappeared into thin air; they became understandably concerned and began to send recon soldiers, in secret, across the border to find some clue about what was going on. After five days of searching, this unlucky private had finally found something; a massive robotics factory, hidden deep in the Dominion Badlands.

He pointed his helmet cam at the large sign reading _Robotnik Industries_ and opened the coms system. "Watchtower twenty-nine, 'Bermuda' are you getting these pictures?"

" _Affirmative March Hare, no record of that place even existing on our maps."_

"Permission to take a look?"

" _Granted March Hare, but stay out of sight."_

"Wilco."

Pulling a set of wire cutters from his kit bag, the rodent ran towards the wire fence and cut his way into the facility. After looking around, he found a small ventilation duct just large enough to squeeze inside and he crawled down it into the bowels of the factory.

After five minutes or so of claustrophobic squirming the rabbit found an exit vent that was close enough to ground level to safely climb out of. With a sharp kick, the grill came loose and the rabbit was able to drop gracefully to the floor.

On sight of the facility, the rabbit's eyes widened. He'd never seen anything like it in his life. It was like an automotive plant but it was huge, on a scale much greater then he'd ever seen before. As far as the eye could see, the factory consisted of a vast network of conveyor belts where different parts of some type of machine were being assembled by large robotic arms.

The strangest thing however was the lack of any human presence. A facility this large would surely require some form of human management, but there was nothing, no sign of life. The rabbit scurried from one hidey hole to another but never found anything. The massive facility seemed to be running itself automatically.

"Are you seeing this Bermuda?" he whispered into the com link.

" _Roger, appears to be an assembly line."_

"Yeah, but for what?" he asked to no one in particular, "It looks like some machines are being built down there, I'm going to try and take a closer look."

" _Roger."_

As silently as possible Jack slipped out of his cover and began to make a beeline across the shop-floor. As he reached the middle of the floor he was stopped dead by what sounded like a heavy metallic _clank_ from behind one of the machines.

"Did you just hear that Bermuda?"

" _Negative."_

There was silence for a few seconds and the rabbit scanned the area for hostiles, but there was nothing.

" _Wait, March Hare we're getting a signal error over here, your camera equipment's no longer broadcasting we need you too…"_ but the message was suddenly garbled into white noise.

 _Damn radio!_ The rabbit thought as he fiddled with the settings, "are you reading me Bermuda?"

 _Static_

He fiddled with the settings a bit more changing the frequency to another watchtower, "Watchtower forty-three, 'Canberra,' come in Canberra."

 _More static_

"What's going on?" the rabbit asked himself as he tried another setting, he'd used never had a total radio failure before. "Watchtower Sixty-three, 'Madrid,' can you read me Madrid?"

 _Yet more static._

He was starting to panic now, a creeping sense of dread emerged at the back of his head telling him something was dangerously wrong. He heard the clanking sound again, louder than before.

"Can anybody hear me!" he finally shouted in desperation, but no reply came, only the repeated sound of metallic clanking as a giant metal monster suddenly loomed into view from behind one the machines.

It was a large humanlike machine; two arms, two legs and about the height of an overlander, although broader in the chest. It had no discernible neck, just a domed head that seemed to rise out of its torso. It had no face, no mouth, just a single, red, flashing 'cylon' like eye. The bot was armed with crude blasters attached to the wrists and a set of fearsome looking, serrated and articulated claws on the end of its arms.

" _HALT INTRUDER_ " the machine broadcast in a harsh electronic voice, " _YOU ARE NOW A PRISONER OF THE ROBOTNIK EMPIRE_ "

The rabbit stood rooted to the spot in fear of this creature looming towards him, unable to either run or resist. However, before he could do either, a new voice, a human voice, broadcast itself on some sort of tannoy system throughout the factory.

" _Greetings intruder,"_ the mysterious male voice began. _"My name is Dr. Robotnik, the greatest scientist in the world. You, have just had the great fortune of being the first Mobian to witness the greatest evolution in life on Mobius; the Robotnik Industry's SWATbot. Armed and equipped with the latest laser blaster technology and capable of rudimentary artificial thought, my SWATbots are the next leap forward. It is truly the ultimate weapon and the one which I will be using to conquer your measly planet,"_ the voice began to laugh manically.

The harsh laugh shook the scout from his shock. Robot soldiers! It was Madness. Robotnik was obviously completely out of his mind and the rabbit had to tell command about what he had witnessed. He had to get the message out that these mechanical monsters existed. He reached for his radio but it was still dead.

Robotnik seemed to understand the rabbit's intention. The SWATbot suddenly lurched forwards towards the unfortunate scout, trying to capture him.

" _Unfortunately, you have seen what you were not supposed too and this must be rectified."_

The rabbit dodged, quickly turning on his heels and spirting back the way he'd come. Vaulting over pieces of machinery and sliding underneath conveyor belts as he fled.

His chest pounded, but a warm feeling of triumph seemed to flow him for a few seconds as glanced back and saw no sign of the thing following.

But once again the harsh voiced seemed to understand exactly what he was thinking. _"As I said rabbit, these machines are capable of artificial thought. They work together,"_ the voice boomed. _"They react to your movements seal off escape."_

The sense of euphoria disappeared, he rounded the final corner and found, blocking his way, two more of the metal machines. He was trapped.

As an act of desperate defiance the he pulled his 9mm Colt from its holster and fired, at point-blank range, at each of the SWATbots.

The rabbit's eyes widened in shock as his shots ricocheted harmlessly off the metal with a pinging sound similar to hail on a tin roof.

" _And of course their armour plating can resist military grade small arms fire."_

Slowly, but with ruthless efficiency, the metallic monsters grabbed the rabbit by the throat, torso and the legs, immobilizing him and carrying the rabbit of towards a huge cylindrical machine.

" _For your intrusion rabbit, you will serve as a test-subject for my invention. The first mobian to see the future will be the first mobian to become part of the future_."

The rabbit tried to free himself; he squirmed, punched, kicked and even gnawed at his assailants to no avail. It all seemed to be entertaining to the disembodied voice.

" _Ho Ho Ho! Resistance is futile little rabbit so save your strength. It won't be long until you'll be above the pain and suffering of mobian-kind. You get to be the first to be evolved."_

As the mad-scientist was speaking the SWATbots roughly threw the rabbit inside the cylindrical machine, smashing his head against the side as they did so.

" _Don't worry; you'll be joined in a couple of days by the rest of your foul race. My SWATbots are already in position. A great new mechanical age will dawn the second I order it. Initiate test programme Alpha One."_

In his daze, Jack heard only the sound of slamming metal and the cackling of Robotnik. Then, the rabbit saw a blazing white light and for a split second he felt agonizing pain, more excruciating then he'd ever experienced before in his life. It felt as though his whole body was being opened; his skin and organs, from the tips of his toes to his skull, forcibly changed, replaced by something new, something colder and more ridged. The pain was so severe his body convulsed, he thrashed his limbs emitted a deafening primal howl begging for release from the machine and the agonising sensations that shot through him.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped, with a sickening clank. The door to the cylinder swung open and the rabbit saw the light of the factory again.

The maniacal voice seemed rather irritated by this, " _Ah,_ _the experiment does not seem to yet work as intended._ "

The rabbit was still in agony and his limbs seemed heavier than before. He wanted to reply but was unable to move his mouth or turn his head; his whole body seemed rigidly fixed into place.

" _Terminate the test._ "

He watched helplessly as the SWATbot raised its blaster and in a burst of red light it was all over.

* * *

The Acorn Kingdom knew nothing of the sad story of Jack Lopes. Five days inside the Dominion it was simply assumed his equipment had malfunction and that he'd make his own way back to base. It was too embarrassing to assume they had lost an agent behind enemy lines. There was no word from the Dominion to suggest that they had captured him. So they were completely unaware of Robotnik's plans or the army he'd built within touching distance of the Acorn capital until it was too late...

* * *

 _ **Additional AN: Usually my notes will be at the bottom. Not much to say about this chapter I**_ _ **just wanted to introduce Robotnik in a slightly different way as well as the SWATbots and the Roboticisor.**_

 _ **There are two references to songs in this chapter, one's easy but the other is more fringe so if you think you've found it let me know.**_

 _ **Please R+R**_


	2. Chapter 1 The Tomboy Princess

**The Tomboy Princess.**

 _Location: Acorn Palace, Mobtropolis, Western Continent_

 _Date: 0545 hours, 13_ _th_ _April 2876 (What would come to be called Zero Day, Year Zero.)_

It was the first explosion which woke the princess, a distant rumble that shook her from sleep, so minor that at first the squirrel had assumed it was a vivid dream or distant thunder. However, a second explosion that followed a couple seconds later, dissuaded her of that notion. This blast was much closer, the whole room shook violently and bits of masonry and plaster fell from the ceiling around her bed.

 _What in Chaos's name was that!_ She wondered; eyes wide and all traces of sleep shaken from her. Without another thought, the squirrel's fight or flight reflexes kicked in, she sprang from the bed and quickly began to dress, pulling on a blue jacket and a pair of blue combat boots over her night clothes.

There were other sounds in the palace now, all sounds she was used to from drills and exercises of the palatine guards; the roaring of orders, the sound of footsteps racing from hither and thither, even the odd crack of a rifle-shot. But there was also an unfamiliar whooshing of jet engines and a quick glance out of the window revealed a strange craft flying dangerously low over the palace grounds. Large metallic shapes appeared to be descending from it on ropes. She could also detect the faintest whiff of smoke; something somewhere inside the palace was on fire. Sally automatically came to the conclusion that the palace was under attack and she was determined to discover exactly what she could do to help save her home.

Suddenly her door was flung open and a brown coloured hare hurtled inside wearing little more than a nightgown. The newcomer took one look at the room chalked in plaster dust and seemed relieved that the princess was unhurt.

"Oh mah stars Sally-Girl, ah'm so glad you're ok," she said in a soft southern drawl.

"Thanks Bunnie," the princess replied to her friend and official lady in waiting, "do you have any idea what's going on out there?"

"Not a clue girl, sorry, ah came to your room the second ah heard the bang," the Rabbit replied as another explosion rocked somewhere nearby causing both girls to flinch as the glass shattered in a nearby room. "With all that commotion, it sounds like a war's started out there."

Sally thought for a moment, "I think it has Bunnie, we should find out exactly what we can do to help." A slightly mischievous smile crossed her lips, "fancy an adventure Miss Rabbot?"

Bunnie chuckled, "Ya nevah change do ya Sally-Girl."

The squirrel meant it, despite the explosions, the smell of smoke and the frantic shouting, she actually felt more excited than scared. She'd always been something of a tomboy and hyper-competitive to boot. As a child, much to her mother's irritation, she'd repeatedly spurned 'girly' things in favour of getting into competitive scraps with her older brother, Elias. Whatever he did, she had to be better at; be it swimming, climbing, sports etc. and she'd always given her brother of three years her senior a run for his money every time.

Now the second in line to the throne was fifteen and her brother was away in the United Federation, training with G.U.N, she'd been able to turn her competitiveness to the cadets training within the palace. Soon she'd become known to many of them at both martial arts and fitness exercises where she had proudly bested even the more senior cadets. This chaos gave her the opportunity to test her metal and prove herself. She turned and with the rabbit at her heels ran out of the door and down the hall.

They were halfway along the landing approaching the spiral stairs when she was stopped by a shout.

"Princess!"

Three figures were running down the corridor towards them, two canid rankers in combat fatigues with a coyote in a Palatine officer-cadet's dress uniform.

"Cadet…" she said trying to remember his name, "D'Coolette," _the priggish one_ , she thought. She'd met the coyote a couple of times before. He was a senior cadet of eighteen years and the son of a royal exile from one of the smaller Mercian states across the Western Ocean. From what Sally had seen of him, he was arrogant and far too proud of his linage. She'd seen him fence and had never been particularly impressed, she'd also discovered he always had an excuses for not facing the princess himself in any martial arts exercises they practised together.

The troopers looked flustered, their fatigues disorderly; one's jacket was hung loosely open showing that they'd obviously dressed in a hurry. In comparison the Coyote wore an almost pristine dress uniform, how he had put it on so quickly or why he'd decided to wear it at all in a combat situation was a mystery to the princess but she assumed it was all about showing off.

Stopping in front of the squirrel, Cadet D'Coolette offered one of the most rigid salutes she'd ever seen, "Your 'ighness, ze palace eez under attack, me and zees men 'ave been ordered to keep you safe."

"Good, you can escort us to the hall."

This took the coyote by surprise, "Mon Dieu, eet eez not safe zere your 'ighness, zat way is ze fighting!" he said obviously not understanding the squirrel's intentions. "Non, I will take you out of ze palace quickly by ze 'idden ways."

The princess had no intention of making an ignominious retreat, she wanted to help. She just glared at the cadet, "no, I will help defend my home and you will escort me to the hall so I can find out exactly what is going on."

"But ze orders…"

"Are still in force cadet," Sally interrupted, "you and these two brave men will keep me safe."

For a second the cadet did not reply, he had expected the honour of escorting the princess to be a safe job. Now he had had the more gruelling task of protecting the princess while she walked into a warzone. He was unable to refuse the princess' order but didn't want to cave in either. It was then that he set eyes on the brown hare at the princess' side, still in her night gown. "But, what about mademoiselle?" he said gesturing towards Bunnie. "She should not be forced into a battle dressed in zat."

Sally rolled her eyes, "Cadet D'Coolette, the palace is being attacked, we do not have time to go back and…"

"But eet eez an assault on her 'onour, ma princess, a lady must have her dignity protected at all times."

 _Very well_ , the princess thought, _I'll call your bluff_ , "Please hand Miss Rabbot your jacket Cadet?"

"Comment!" the coyote replied, his eyes wide in surprise as he realised he was being asked to give up the finely embroidered jacket he wore proudly to display his rank. The two troopers almost burst out laughing at the expression but a glance from the princess forced them to smother it.

For a couple of seconds the coyote looked angry enough to resist, but in one swift movement he began to unfasten the coat. "D'accord," he said, refusing to look the princess in the eye and instead smiling a wide smile at Bunnie, "an officer should always protect a lady's 'onour, mademoiselle," he added rather pompously.

To Sally's surprise the hare seemed rather touched by the gesture, "Thanks mr…?"

"Antoine"

Bunnie smiled, "where ah'm from a girl is very appreciative when a man offers to defend her honour." she said in such a tone which Sally could not work out whether was humouring the coyote or deadly serious.

"Une pleasure mademoiselle. Now princess, if you'd like to follow me." He turned around and led them down the stairs towards the sound of fighting.

* * *

The entrance hall was an even more manic place then the rest of the palace, with more soldiers running backwards and forwards then Sally had thought possible to fit in such a tight space. A great cacophony of shouting filled the air as officer and non-coms barked out orders. Along the left hand wall a group of soldiers were hastily constructing an improvised barricade of palace furniture, bookcases and even pots and pans from the kitchens. At the base of the spiral staircase a wall of sandbags had been thrown down and a heavy machine guns had been set up facing the doorway. There was the constant crack of rifle shots as troopers fired across the courtyard from the windows whilst others tried to drill loopholes into the walls with their bayonets or took up firing positions on the stairway.

Suddenly another explosion rocked the hall and in the shockwave one of the palace's windows was blown out, raining of glass shards over the hall and forcing the princess and her escort to dive for cover behind a hastily erected pile of sandbags next to a skunk in the royal blue uniform of a Palatine guard Captain.

The officer was rather surprised at their arrival. "Antoine, you drongo! You were supposed to get her out of the castle not bring her to the barney," he called out in a rough Downunderian accent.

"He was only following my orders St John," Sally explained to the familiar officer who regularly led her and the cadet's combat exercises, "I want to know what I can do to help?"

"Well love, I've always said that you've got more stones than most of the cadets. Not bad for a fifteen year old girl!"

The skunk's overly familiar tone made the princess smile as she imagined what her mother would have said if she'd heard a soldier use that kind of language to her.

"Honestly, there's not much any of us can do. These things," he said gesturing towards the window, "aren't human. No matter what you shoot at them they just keep coming, rounds just bounce off. It's like they're invincible."

Sally bit her lip, that wasn't the news she wanted to hear, "But where are they coming from?"

"They all burst out of the Dominion embassy fifteen minutes ago and started attacking the palace. Others started dropping from those aircraft. I'd love to know what the airforce was doing to miss'em. Apparently a number of troops have been attacked along the frontier as well."

"So daddy was wrong, it wasn't bluster, Robotnik really wanted a war."

The skunk nodded, "and it seems he really did have a secret weapon."

At that there was the sound of more shouting and a handful of troopers came scrambling into the hall, their uniforms bloody and they were covered in minor burns and bandages.

"Bloody hell, that's not good."

"What's not good Geoffrey?" a new voice asked with distinctly wheezy tones which caused both the captain and the princess to turn and the skunk to salute when he realised it was the king.

King Maximillian did not look well or particularly regal. To Sally, her father appeared much older than he really was. He looked exhausted; his eyes bloodshot and rheumy. He seemed to be reliant on the banister's handrail and Sally's mother, Queen Alicia, who stood at his side, to keep him upright. He was not wearing a military uniform; instead he wore an elaborate purple bed robe which was finely embroidered with exquisite gold lace; hardly the most inspiring attire for the king to wear in front of his troops seemingly facing a last stand.

"Those men, my lord, were defending the Eastern Wing of the palace. The machines are obviously inside and they've been forced to retreat."

"I see," the king frowned, "What's the situation in the rest of the palace Geoffrey?"

"The machines are shelling the palace and the grounds are chocka with the mechanical buggers. The Eastern wing's fallen and large parts of the west are on fire. All those things have to do is break open those doors and it'll be over."

"Isn't there hope we could be relieved?" Sally asked hopefully.

"Unlikely," the captain flinched as another blast thudded against the door. "For starters, I doubt the door can hold against that for very long and even if it did I'm not sure if our soldiers could beat those metal things to break through."

The king shook his head, "no, they can't. I've just come from the radio room. Our troops are simply outclassed everywhere and I've ordered them to fall back on the hidden sanctuary of Knothole." There was silence as everyone took this in.

The princess looked anxious, "so, we've lost?" she said not quite able to believe what she was hearing.

"No, not entirely, there is still a chance…" the king started but he was cut off by a shout from one of the soldiers near the window.

The shooting had ceased and a short, balding, weaselly faced man in a green jacket walked directly in front of the palace beneath a white flag of truce.

"King Maximillian," the tiny man shouted in an extremely slimy, nasally voice, "you have had the privilege to witnessed first-hand my uncles' great revolution, the SWATbot. These robots have destroyed your armies faster than anything in the history of Mobius. Your situation is hopeless, you are outmatched and outgunned. Your kingdom has become the first conquests of the Robotnik Empire and if you lay down your weapons and come quietly, you will be spared. If not, you and all your soldiers will be slaughtered. Will you surrender?"

The hall was silent, all eyes on the old king who patted his daughter on the shoulder and walked forward towards the window.

"And what about my people?" he shouted back. "We all know that Robotnik hates mobians, what will he do to his new subjects?"

The short man gave an evil smile, "They will become part of his revolution. Your people will be 'improved' to serve the Empire."

"You mean to make them slaves?"

"They will have the privilege to serve my uncle and become greater than they are."

The king shook his head and turned around to view the troopers in the hallway, they were grim and determined, none of them wanted to surrender. Suddenly the aged king drew himself to his full height. "Mobians will never be slaves." He shouted back in a deeply authoritative tone Sally had not heard from him for years. "We are stubborn little creatures who would never surrender the freedoms, which we have fought your kind for centuries to keep, to a two-bit dictator such as your uncle. We will always resist you, fighting from the hills and the forests if we must. Remember, Mobian's aren't easily frightened, we're not scared of Overlanders and we won't be cowered by your threats. We remember the last time you people tried to subjugate us and we know you failed. So even if your uncle marches his metal toys into the palace we still won't bloody listen to him. So the answer to your question is no, we will never surrender!"

As the king finished the troops gave a deafening roar in approval, Sally beamed and couldn't help notice her mother was actually smiling.

The short speech however seemed to have taken it out of the old man, he looked more exhausted then ever so she ran forward to steady him as he wobbled slightly. As she took his arm the old man looked at her, "I'm so sorry darling, I lost my temper."

Sally almost burst out laughing, "Why daddy? You were brilliant!"

The king looked into his daughters eyes and sighed, "No, I was wrong" he lamented softly, "I failed to pay attention to what that madman was ranting about and so I let this happen. Now that horrible little creature is right; we're outclassed, outgunned and all I can do is bluster and play for time."

"Why are you playing for time?"

The king took another deep breath before explaining, a look of anguish on his face. "You're getting out of here. Flee south with the servants and most of the guard, the crown and my seal of office."

Sally couldn't believe what she was hearing, "No daddy…" but, he ignored her and continued to give instructions.

"Captain St John," the king shouted summoning the skunk forward, "I require thirty volunteers who don't mind staying with me but I want you to lead the rest and escort my daughter, everyone else in the palace and the symbols of my house to safety." He gripped the skunk's shoulder tightly as the captain turned to leave, "You will keep my daughter safe at all times St John!"

Sally was indignant and as her father turned she gripped his arm, "you can't make me."

The king gave his daughter a sad smile, "My little bean, you were always so wilful," he said shaking his head, "I love you dearly, but please do as I ask, Elias is safe and you must be too. I am too old to flee but can buy you time."

She looked at her mother who was walking towards the pair with tears in her eyes, "Mother, you can't let him do this." Sally pleaded.

"It's for the best dear, you must get to safety."

It was then that it struck the squirrel and she started to weep softly, "You're staying too aren't you?"

"I will stand by my husband's side as I have done for 20 years, remember, that is a queen's duty dear. You are young, strong and determined; a much better figurehead for resistance then your aging father could ever be," her mother explained as she hugged her daughter tightly. "Now go before it's too late." But Sally refused to budge, tears in her eyes, she gripped first her mother and then her father tightly.

She seemed unable to let go until a hand gripped her shoulder and pulled her firmly but not violently away, "I'm sorry," St John's voice said as he manhandled the princess down one of the castle's service tunnels, "we have to go!"

At first Sally struggled and fought the man who pulled her away from her parents. But, as the skunk carried her further into the lower areas of the palace she eventually stopped.

"Sorry about that," Geoffrey said as he let her go, "I had my orders."

"I understand captain," the squirrel replied sombrely, refusing to look him in the eye. "We have to get out of here," she sighed, "It's just…" she was interrupted as the sounds shooting broke out again from the floor above. Robotnik's robots were assaulting the palace for the final time.

Sally glanced at the ragtag band assembled before her, they were servants not soldiers; maids like Bunnie or the kitchen staff. Their soldier escort was little better; a few were injured, some barely able to stand, the rest were completely exhausted or, like Antoine, appeared scared out of their wits. She suddenly realised her father had made the right call on getting as many out as possible and now as the royal princess, they were looking to her as the figure of authority.

"Captain, we need to move," she said, surprised at the calmness in her own voice, "please organise those soldiers who can fight to the front and rear of the column to protect the refugees. I'll lead us out through the kitchens."

Sally led the party from the front with a number of soldiers at her shoulder. She took the refugees deeper into the palace, passing through kitchens and servant's areas; leading them to a secret tunnel few knew about beneath one of the kitchen's larders which led out of the palace grounds. She'd known about the route since childhood, constantly using it to escape her finishing school etiquette classes which her mother had forced her to attend.

As they reached the kitchens, they found the hidden metal door tightly locked against them.

"Bugger," the skunk swore as he violently pulled on the metal door, "trapped like rats."

"We're not Captain," the princess replied as she removed a bobby pin from her auburn hair letting it fall to her shoulders, "I've had to crack this lock dozens of times," the skunk raised an eyebrow causing the princess and her rabbit maid servant to chuckle. "It's the only reason I ever let mother tie my hair back," she added with a smile on her face as she unfolded the hairpin and inserted it into lock.

"Come on let me here the click you b-" she muttered in very non-lady-like language as she fiddled with the lock, an intense look of concentration on her face.

After thirty seconds or so of struggling the coyote pushed his way to the front he looked increasingly nervous at the delay, "Princess eet eez no good, ze robots will be 'ere soon, we should try another way."

"Antoine" the squirrel muttered through gritted teeth, "give me some time. It's nearly…" she was interrupted by a soft click as the lock cracked. "There we are," she said with a triumphant smile as the refugees began to pour past her down the tunnel, "I told you I could do it."

* * *

The sound of shooting from the palace remained clearly audible to the evacuees until they were long out of the grounds. As they got further away it began to slacken until it suddenly ceased completely, leaving nothing but a haunting, gaunt silence hanging over the party. They all understood what it meant; the palace had finally fallen.

For an hour or so the party continued on in a mournful silence, it seemed nobody wanted to mention what had happened in the palace. Sally tried her hardest not to think about what could have happened to her parents and instead concentrated on her escape.

Eventually they came to a stop along the bank of a small stream a couple of miles south of Mobtropolis. The refugees were exhausted, some of the men and women threw themselves on the ground to rest, others sat, some took the opportunity to refill canteens in the river, while the remainder just stared vacantly into space too tired and sorry to do anything.

The princess was one of these; she watched the group in a daze. It was all so strange, this morning she'd been a fifteen year old princess at home in her beautiful palace protected by a loving family. Now it was all in flux, she was leading a group of refugees and everything was gone; her mother and father were most likely dead and the home she'd known destroyed. Her older brother was somewhere far away in a strange land and she doubted if she'd ever see him again. Why had this happened? All she wanted to do was weep, to sob, scream, shout, rant and rave at the injustice of it all. But she knew she couldn't, she was leading these people now and she had to stay strong and dignified for their sake.

The evacuees all looked shocked and exhausted. Morale appeared almost non-existent. The coyote, for example, appeared on the verge of tears until Bunnie, sat close to him and whispered something in his ear. After that he suddenly looked much more proud of himself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the skunk who plonked himself down next to her, "where to ma'am?" he said, with considerably more respect in his voice then Sally had ever heard him use before.

"You're in command Geoffrey," she answered without taking her eyes off the evacuees.

The officer shook his head, "only of the soldiers, you're the one leading us and everyone needs to be reminded we've not lost least any remaining morale collapses."

Sally thought for a second, "In that case then we do what daddy said," she said, slowly increasing the volume so the soldiers could hear her. "We go south to hidden stronghold and we'll carry on this war from the woods and valleys. We will not let these machines beat us and my parent's sacrifice goes to waste!"

The skunk gave her a smile and squeezed her affectionately on the shoulder, "Just what they needed to hear." He stood up and addressed the evacuees, "Come on, get moving you lazy sods, we're not going to bludge around here all day," he shouted making many of them jump to their feet, "you all heard the princess, we're not retreating we're just advancing in the opposite direction!"

* * *

The Acorn kingdom was just one of many regimes to fall in quick succession, in just a couple of days the SWATbots had conquered huge swath of the planet, enslaving mobian and human alike. All countries were impacted, although some like the Federation were able to just about able to hang on. Robotnik's conquest reached every corner of Mobius, but the war was never over and groups of mobians soon came together to resist. In the far east on the remote Emerald Archipelago, one group found they possessed extra-ordinary skills. They began to halt and turn back Robotnik's empire.

* * *

 ** _AN: Hello thanks for reading. As I said at the top of the prologue most characters were being re-written in some way. St John's role has been changed to a sort of senior soldier type figure who will play a minor role later on. In regard to Antoine I wanted to write his as more pompous but keep the some of the cowardly aspect and when the main story kicks off he'll be fleshed out. (oh and I struggle to write Bunnie's accent so this was something of a practice inclusion.) The main goal of this chapter was introducing Sally and the coup._**

 ** _Next time we meet the heroes and the story begins in earnest._**

 ** _Please R &R and thank you to my reviews Archaon and Haylee and the story followers, Ashe Tye and the Blazer Twins._**


	3. Chapter 2 Heroes

**AN: So, this is late. Sorry! I've been hellishly busy.**

 **Chapter 2: Heroes**

 _Location: The Scrap Brain Zone, South Island, Emerald Archipelago, Eastern Continent_

Date: _13th July, 2880 or Year 4 after Robotnik's Conquest (AC)_

The tiny, overloaded red biplane, hugged the nap-of-the-earth as it's four-man crew searched the industrial wasteland for their target.

"I don't see anything, Sonic." The plane's pilot, a small orange fox who wore a brown leather flight jacket, flying goggles and a fleece lined leather cap, shouted back to a cobalt blue hedgehog who stood rather precariously on the plane's port wing.

"Don't sweat bro; just concentrate on getting us there safely." The hedgehog replied his nasally voice as the aircraft rose slightly to avoid one of the larger smoke stakes that littered the area.

The hedgehog had emerald green eyes and wore few clothes apart white gloves on his arms and bright red trainers with a white stripe down the side and a golden buckle as well as a pair of green combats. His muzzle was peach as was his chest while the rest of him was a deep cobalt blue; along his back was a protruding set of fearsome looking serrated spines.

"Amy" he said as he looked down at the green eyed, pink female hedgehog in the observer seat, "Anything on the scanners?"

"Not yet." The girl, who wore a pink Alice band, white t-shirt and a green tartan skirt answered.

"I told you this would be a waste of time," the red furred echidna who stood opposite the hedgehog on the starboard wing muttered contemptuously. The echidna was the most spartanly dressed of the group, for apart from a pair of green, yellow and red coloured sneakers he wore no articles of clothing at all. He had long flowing red dreadlocks down his back and a white line of fur across his chest but his most identifying feature were his white gloves. These gloves covered large fists each the size of a baby's skull, protruding from the knuckles on each hand were a set of three-inch-long spikes which had earned the echidna his nickname; Knuckles.

"Kid's plans are always too complicated. We should just head straight in and break stuff."

The fox turned to give Knuckles a cold glare but a shout from the female hedgehog distracted him, "I've got something boys, about a click ahead of us."

"We all know the plan?" The vulpine asked.

"yup," the echidna replied, "I make a lot of noise to keep the bots busy, Sonic rushes in and places the charges to blow the generators while you hack the mainframe as girlie keeps you covered."

Below a large squad of SWATbots began taking up defensive positions to secure Robotnik's data facility from the approaching attackers.

"Looks like ol' buttnik's more eager to defend this place and is already rolling out the welcome mat for us," Sonic said as he looked at the little vulpine, "You sure he's not here?"

The fox shrugged, "Not according to the transmissions I've picked up, he's got enough problems on the mainland."

Sonic yawned, "this'll be easy then."

"How about we make things interesting," he said as he winked at the echidna, "bet I can break more of those things then you can Knucklehead."

"Oh you're on spiny!" the echidna relied as he started to warm himself up.

The fox saw what was going on, "Not yet Knuckles we're still half a click from the…" but it was too late. Knuckles leaped from the plane and glided fists first into a SWATbot, shattering it into pieces. The kit shook his head and sighed contemptuously, "…Idiot!"

"What do you expect Tails? Knucklehead's as subtle as a brick," the azure speedster replied with a shrug.

Looking down, the three on the plane watched the Echidna who was busy scything his way through a number of the robots. "Got to admit he's effective though," the pink hedgehog muttered.

"Yeah, but some of us have reputations to uphold and he's currently making me look bad," the hedgehog said as he limbered himself up. "Keep Tails safe for me Ames." With that the hedgehog crouched into a ball and launched himself off the plane in a spin dash which smashed into a file of the SWATbots below like a cannon ball.

With his two standing passengers gone, the little fox increased the throttle and pulled back hard on the yoke forcing the small biplane to climb steeply until its engine began to strain. As the plane increased altitude, Tails fiddled with the settings on the plane's on-board computer.

"Auto-Pilots' set, ready Amy?"

The girl nodded as she pulled a long leather strap with a small crossbow and a large red hammer over her shoulder.

"Ok, now!" the fox shouted as he pressed a final button on the computer.

With the plane's engine on the verge of stalling, the kit swung the aircraft upside down into a roll. Gently, the fox and his passenger undid their harness straps and eased themselves out of their seats and dropped out of the plane. After a couple of seconds, the plane righted itself and banked away to safety under the control of the auto-pilot.

In free fall, the fox grabbed hold of the pink hedgehog's wrists and began to spin his twin tails which earned him his nickname producing enough lift for him to decrease their decent speed and allow the pair to glide gracefully to earth.

* * *

Sonic was speeding his way deeper into the facility searching for the power generator; every so often jumping over an obstacle or breaking some two-bit robot which had been placed in his way. Although designed to be a maze, the route seemed almost second nature to the blue blur who'd spent the best part of four years breaking into these sorts of places; left, right, straight on for a little while, jump over this trap, etc. it all seemed so hackneyed. _Man Buttnik needs to be a bit more creative when he designs these places_ , he thought as he made yet another sharp turn down yet another metallic corridor.

He flicked the switch on his transmitter to activate it.

"Ames, you and Tails in position yet?"

" _Not yet,"_ the girl's voice replied, _"We've just landed and are making our way in there."_

* * *

 _As soon as Miles recovers_ , she thought as she looked down at the fox currently sprawled on the ground panting.

"Ready?"

"Almost…" the fox wheezed, his tails may produce lift but he could only ever fly for a short period of time before he became exhausted. "Just give me… a few more seconds…to rest."

"Are you ok?"

"Fine… You just… weighed more…then I expected."

Amy stared daggers at the knackered vulpine, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

But the fox seemed quite oblivious to his poor phrasing, "I said… you were heavier… then I..."

"Miles, stop talking now or I'll crack your skull like an egg with this hammer," the hedgehog interrupted before he could finish.

The kit stared at her; social skills were not his forte and he was quite unsure what he'd done wrong. Seeing the look on his face, Amy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Remind me to give you tips on how to phrase things when talking to women when we get back," she said as she pulled him to his feet, "now which way to the CPU?"

The breathless fox pointed towards the door next to them. It was electronically locked up tight but next to it was a sealed access port.

"Can you hack it?"

"Course… if I can get access to the port."

"leave that to me," Amy unslung the large hammer from her back, swung it with all her might; with a loud _Clang_ the metal broke apart revelling the access port's control box.

The fox hurriedly pulled a small computer from the utility belt of tools he wore over his shoulder as a bandolier and connected the wires to the access panel. After just a few seconds of frantic typing the door opened. The fox stepped back with a beaming smile on his face and looked at Amy.

"Show off," she muttered, "You're as bad as Sonic sometimes."

* * *

 _Twenty two!_ The echidna counted as his spiked fist smashed its way through yet another one of Robotnik's robots. He was enjoying himself immensely. He'd never admit it in public of course, but he always found breaking armoured robots apart strangely therapeutic. Sure, Sonic used the stored momentum to smash them; the kid had those blade-like namesakes of his along with that energy cannon thingamajig and the little shouty girl had her huge hammer. But, only he could actually break through solid steel with his fists and that was something of an ego boost!

A flash of red over his right shoulder snapped him out of his self-aggrandisement; he was still under attack. As quickly as he could, before the machine could fire again, he began to climb one of the facilities smoke-stacks using his claws. When he was high enough he suddenly leaped off and dove straight down onto another of the machines.

"Twenty-Three,"he said to himself as he picked himself out of the debris. However, a thud behind him alerted him to the approach of yet more of the machines and he was forced to sprint deeper into the facility to get away from them.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep giving these things the run around guys!" he shouted into the transmitter.

* * *

Sonic had just placed his second charge as he heard the echidna's message.

"Don't worry, just one more charge left to plant and then we're ready to go." He flicked the switch to change the channels again, "Amy, Tails, everything ok your side?"

" _Affirmative,"_ the fox's voice replied over the radio, _"inside the mainframe now."_

"Roger, let me know if you need any help."

Just as he said it an internal door in the facility opened revealing three SWATbots, each with their wrist blasters firmly pointed toward the hedgehog.

" _HALT HEDGEHOG_!" the trio of bots called out in unison.

The hedgehog raised an eyebrow, "it's about time you guys showed up, the security down here's just terrible."

There was no answer just a burst of blazing red light.

Sonic dodged the blaster shots. He leapt onto the side wall of the facility and ran along it until he was level with the robots. From there he leapt again, curled up into a ball and flung himself, with all his might, at the central of the three robots which collapsed under his momentum. The other two robots each turned to face the hedgehog, who now stood directly between them, the pair raised their blasters to fire again but the hedgehog was faster. He jumped into the air just as they let their shots off, dodging both of the laser beams, which instead instantly vaporised the two robots the hedgehog had been stood between.

As the hedgehog landed he surveyed the scene; shaking his head at the charred wreckage of three SWATbots, "Ol' Buttnik's artificial intelligence remains as dumb as ever I see!"

After that brief interlude it was relatively plain sailing and the third charge was planted easily. He flicked on the communicator, "Knux all charges are planted, what's it like out there?"

There was a couple of seconds wait before there was a response. " _Hot!_ " the Echidna replied curtly, an explosion clearly audible in the background.

"Well can you draw them away so we can get out of here?"

" _Roger._ "

Before he could switch the transmitter, the hedgehog received a new message. " _Could use a hand down here Sonic!_ "female hedgehog's voice said, " _We've got a lot of SWATbots pouring into the mainframe now._ "

"Be there in a hedgehog second Ames," he replied as he sprinted down the corridor.

* * *

The pink hedgehog was exhausted. She'd just swung her hammer into her seventh SWATbot in less than a minute; but, no matter how much damage she inflicted there seemed to be another one just waiting to attack, there was just so many of them. She looked over towards the centre of the room where the little two-tailed fox was trying to download as much of the system data from a central console whilst simultaneously returning fire at the SWATbots using his wrist blaster and slashing with his tails anything that got too close.

"Argh, there's too many of them," she moaned, "Are you nearly done over there?"

"Seventy percent," the kit shouted back as a blast of red light forced him to take cover behind the sever console.

"Can't you get it done any quicker?"

The fox's head re-appeared from behind the console; a look of irritation on his face. "Well, it would be quicker if I didn't have to keep doing this," he said as he fired his energy cannon hitting one of the bots in the midsection so that it dropped to the floor, it's circuits fried.

Before he could get another shot off however a fusillade of blaster shots ripped across the room forcing the fox back behind the console and sending Amy scurrying for some cover of her own. The hedgehog grasped at her communicator again, "Were are you Sonic?" she screamed, "we're pinned down in here!" but there was no reply.

Amy could hear the SWATbots advancing towards her, their fire kept her pinned but she could hear that they were moving around the barrier she was using to protect herself. From the fox's direction she heard a number of metallic clangs as Tails smashed another SWATbot with his namesakes. A few blaster shots were also heard as he returned fire as best he could. However, the SWATbots did not let up.

Suddenly she glanced up, one of the robots had rounded the barrier s and bore down towards her. The Hedgehog raised her hammer just as the SWATbot raised its blaster and she felt a sickening dread as she realised she'd never reach it in time before the robot fired it weapon.

"SONIC!" she cried out in panic as the robot began to charge up the blaster pointed straight at her.

She closed her eyes and waited for it to end. But it didn't. There was a whoosh of wind and a metallic clang and Amy opened her eyes to see the familiar cobalt blue hedgehog staring at her with a smug look on his face whilst he chucked the SWATbot's domed head up and down in his left hand like a football.

"Need a hand?" he asked lazily.

Amy didn't reply. She just let out a great sigh of relief at the hedgehog's timely arrival.

Another fusillade of blaster fire shook her back to reality. The blue hedgehog looked at Amy, "think you can rush them if I draw their fire?" The pink hedgehog nodded.

"Hey pixel brain!" Sonic shouted to the little fox taking cover behind the sever control at the other side room, "we're going to be doing that old 'rely on Buttnik's stupid obsession' play again. Ready?"

"Affirmative."

The blue hedgehog smiled at Amy. They were about to exploit a weakness in Robotnik's design, one that he and the fox had discovered years previously and used countless times since.

* * *

"Ok, now," Sonic shouted as he broke from behind the barrier that Amy had been using for cover.

" _PRIORITY ONE TARGET SPOTTED, ENGAGING HEDGEHOG_ " the lead SWATbot called out

As soon as the hedgehog sped out into the open, the SWATbots, following their programming, stopped shooting at Amy and Tails and aimed instead for Robotnik's 'priority one' target, Sonic the hedgehog.

Sonic could easily dodge the shots and as he did so Tails and Amy both rose from their hiding places. The fox fired his wrist blaster taking out a few of the bots. Amy vaulted the barrier and raced forwards, her hammer raised, and swung with a loud clang into the robot in front of her, breaking it apart.

The SWATbots ignored the duo who were inflicting damage upon them and remained focused upon Sonic who ran along the wall, evading their blaster fire.

The cobalt speedster swung around and launched himself at the lead bot, smashing it to bits and ricocheting back into the air. The second bot was suddenly taken down by Tail's fire so Sonic launched a homing attack at the third and fourth bots which quickly fell in a broken heap. He now targeted the fifth bot, which stood next to a sixth. Sonic landed on the fifth bot's head and gracefully pirouetted, swinging his legs out to collide with the sixth, the hedgehog's momentum sending it flying. He then leaped off the fifth bot just as it was struck by another one of the fox's blaster shots and landed back on the ground, the SWATbots defeated.

He looked up to see the kit beaming at him and holding out his hand to pull him up, "that was so cool Sonic!" he gushed.

Sonic smiled as he took Tails' outstretched hand, "It's nothing kid, besides I couldn't have done it without you. That was some great shooting."

The little fox gave a weak smile, "They were tougher than I anticipated. Another minute and we'd have been toast."

The hedgehog patted the small fox on the shouldered. "When have I ever let you down?" he gestured towards the console, "that download done yet?"

"Just a few more seconds," the fox replied as he walked back to the panel.

"Sonic!" Amy's voice called out from behind him. The hedgehog turned and was immediately embraced in one of the girl's bone crushingly tight hugs, "You took your time!"

"Hey… settle down Ames," the hedgehog said as he struggled to free himself from her embrace, "when have I ever been late for anything?"

The girl smiled and let him go, "just come quicker next time."

"When am I slow?" the hedgehog replied with a smirk. "Besides it's not hard to beat Buttnik's stupid bots."

"The robots aren't stupid," Tails replied from behind the terminal with the hint of an exasperated sigh of someone who'd explain something hundreds of times before. "It's their coding, they're not AIs, they can't fully think for themselves. Robotnik has an obsession with capturing you so he programmed it into his bots to attack you as a priority. But before that they all doubled back to attack me and Amy in here."

Sonic didn't care much; one robot was very much like another, dumb and easy to break, "So?"

"So, it's weird that they reacted like that, they tried to trap us rather than go after you or Knuckles. What if Robotnik's hyper-sensitive about what is being kept in here so he programmed the SWATbots to defend this place? We know he's building something, he has been for years, so what if the data's stored here holds the designs."

"They didn't react that much differently today though, did they?" Amy asked

"They did, they only sent a token force out to deal with Knuckle's decoy and Sonic's demolition. The rest came in to trap us."

"You're just jumping at shadows bro," Sonic replied with a shrug. "So what there were a few more of them? I bet there's nothing different from the usual update reports and junk files."

Tails pulled the wires out of his computer, "well we'll soon find out, the download's finished."

"Great, let's juice Ames," Sonic said as he manhandled the pink hedgehog over his shoulder before she could even react and sprinted off, "Race ya Tails!" he shouted as he sped out of the facility. Amy's shirk of surprise following him out.

Tails smiled to himself, carefully put the computer away and sped off after him using his twin tails as a propeller.

* * *

 _What's taking them so long_? Knuckles thought to himself as he sat waiting at the rondeaux site, a piece of wastelands a few miles from the facility. The Tornado biplane was already there, grounded with its engine turning.

Eventually a blue streak sped on to the wasteland with the yellow fox not far behind both of them screeching to a stop as they saw Knuckles.

"What kept you?" The echidna asked.

"Buttnik's bots. No sign of their tubby master though, kid was right he must be across the ocean again," the hedgehog replied as he placed Amy gently down on the ground. "You ok Ames?"

The girl seemed to have turned a rather interesting shade of green, "I've told you before," she muttered as she slowly walked away and sat herself on the floor, "give me a few seconds warning before you do that."

Sonic shook his head and turned back the red echidna with the cocky smile back on his face, "so how'd you do?"

Knuckles stood examining his spiked namesakes nonchalantly, "Thirty-five SWATbots."

"Well done, I only managed eighteen," the hedgehog replied as he pulled the detonator out of his pocket.

The echidna smirked in triumph, but the hedgehog cockily raised an eyebrow stopping the celebration before it began.

"Of course I also did this…" Sonic said as he pressed the button on the detonator causing the entirety of Robotnik's Scrap Brain zone to burst into flames.

Knuckles gawped at the explosion as the hedgehog gave a smug look of triumph, "Which, I think counts, as a few more."

After a few seconds of silence, the hedgehog finally noticed the kit hadn't said anything. He was stood separated slightly from the rest of the group furiously typing on the little portable computer. "What's up Tails, the download work?"

"It's encrypted," Tails answered quickly without even taking his eyes off the screen, "heavily encrypted, I need to get it back to the lab immediately to crack it."

 **Additional AN: Hope you like this, it was great fun to write.**

 **I'd like to thank those of you who reviewed the two prologue chapters. I put them out much earlier then I wanted for a number of reasons. The biggest of which was due to the fact that I noticed my story had worrying similarites to a piece of work on here called "Sonic Affinity" by a writer called S4pphi. I wanted to publish mine sooner rather then later so I could flag it up with the original writer and offer to pull the story if he so requested. Anyway, he was happy and although the story has a similar themes in the early chapters we're going in very different directions.**

 **As a thank you to S4pphi I'd like to ask all of you to go and give "Sonic Affinity" a read; its a great story.**

 **Don't forget to R and R.**

 **Cheers.**


	4. Chapter 3 The code

**Chapter 3- The Code**

 _Location: Sky Sanctuary Zone, Angel Island, Somewhere above the Eastern Continent._

 _Date: 16_ _th_ _July 4AC_

The morning was a beautiful on the floating island. The air was so clear that it allowed a spectacular, panoramic view of both South and Westside Islands far below.

The legendary island had been the group's home for almost two years since the echidna, fed up of fending off the dictator's attempts to steal the emerald, had grudgingly accepted the heroes' offer of help guarding the master emerald and joined the team. In the time since, Tails had used his technical expertise to install a complex defence grid across the island so that they no longer needed to worry about Robotnik attacking. Allowed them to focus on counter-attacking and together the four had used their abilities to almost thrown him out of the EmeraldArchipelago.

The heroes as a result could afford to sit around the island lazing in the heat for once. Amy sat watching the scenery, a half finished book on her knee whilst Sonic and Knuckles practiced sparring against one another.

"Where's kid?" Knuckles asked as he picked himself up from the ground after Sonic had beaten him in one of their bouts, "he could do with learning a-bit of hand-to-hand combat." The group had barely seen their youngest member for three days. As soon as they'd landed he'd retreated to the small lab he'd built under the emerald chamber and not emerged since.

"Must be still working on that code stuff," Sonic answered. The little fox was hard working to a fault when dealing with a project but he rarely worked so long without some kind of heads up. "You seen him Ames?" he asked.

"No," the girl said as she looked up from her book, "heard him muttering to himself the other evening but he's ignored all the attempts I've made to contact him."

"He still working?"

"I'd imagine so, you know how he is."

Sonic nodded, Tails had a habit of working obsessively especially when it came to computers. The canid was one of the few mobians not afraid of Robotnik's technical supremacy; instead Robotnik's machines and computer technology were something of a challenge which he compulsively sought to overcome.

Despite this the hedgehog worried about the little fox, his working habits meant he often failed to eat, drink or even sleep. "He eaten anything?" Sonic asked with a touch of concern in his voice.

Amy scowled, "How would I know? It's not my job to make sure he's fed and watered. He's got food own there so I'd assume so."

"I didn't mean it like that Ames," Sonic replied in an attempt to pacify the girl. The pink hedgehog was sometimes rather prickly about her role within the team and disliked any insinuation that she was just a tag-a-long. "Tails would work 'till he collapsed if he was trying to figure out how 'Buttnik's tech worked."

Amy sighed and nodded in agreement, "Suppose we better go and make sure he is doing something sensible, I don't want to be woken up by one of his accidents again."

The males nodded in agreement, no-one relished the prospected of explosions at 3am due to a mistake caused by an exhausted fox's mental curiosity.

Unsurprisingly, the kit was found in his lab. It was in its usual state of chaos; half-finished gadgets and mechanical parts littered the worktops and piles of blue prints were scattered across the floor. The vulpine himself sat at his desk seemingly transfixed at the computer screen; a pile of dirty plates and used mugs were stacked on the floor next to his workstation.

"Err, Tails" the hedgehog asked as they crossed the room, "How's it going?"

The fox didn't respond, his attention was intently rapt on the screen in front of him; his eyes flickered left to right following lines of data which flashed across the screen too quickly for the others to read. His fingers danced across the keyboard with surgical skill and he muttered to himself about a numerical code which the others couldn't understand.

Sonic put his hand on the fox's shoulder but the fox didn't react he just continued his typing. "Tails?" the hedgehog asked again waving his hand in front of the vulpine's face to attract his attention to no avail.

Sonic looked at Amy for help, causing her to sigh.

"Miles!" she snapped causing the kit to jump in his seat as if he'd been shocked. He turned and stared dumbly at the new arrivals for a few seconds, before grinning like a child caught doing something he shouldn't.

"Sorry, you say something?"

"Sonic asked you how your work was going?"

The grin faded from the fox's face to be replaced with a scowl. His eyes bloodshot and his ears flattered low over his head in submission.

"Miles," Amy said studying him, "are you ok?"

The fox wasn't, his pride had been deeply wounded. He was an ace with computers yet his failure irritated him. Three days! Three days to hack Robotnik's encryption. Three days of failing repeatedly and getting nowhere was infuriating.

The fox took a deep breath before answering, "I can't hack it."

"What do you mean, that code you found on the download?" Sonic asked.

"Yes."

Knuckles looked slightly confused; he'd never seen the little fox unable to work out something with a computer before, "why not?" he asked rather gruffly.

Tails' eyes flashed with irritation for a split second and he gave no answer, he'd obviously interpreted the echidna's tone as a gibe. "I can't decipher the algorithm," the fox answered in low voice, "it's very well encrypted. It automatically updates itself every few minute and all the character's change. In three days I've not noticed a single repetition."

Sonic didn't understand how that worked but he could understand why it would be frustrating for the fox, "can't you just let the computer do it? Isn't it a powerful system you built."

"Not possible," the fox answered, "the computer's programmed to run the defence grid independently not to hack high level encryption. It's not advanced enough to do the latter without me telling it what to look for. The only way I could get it to work on the anticipating and reacting to the algorithm without me coding it constantly would be if I disconnected it from the whole defence system and reconfigured it. But we can't do that."

"As it would leave the island defenceless," Amy added.

Tails nodded.

"So, what can you use?"

"A computer that is able to react and think its way around the coding algorithm on its own. Basically, I need an AI. A computer that can truly think for itself."

True AIs were the exception that proved the general rule that Dr Robotnik had superior technology to the rest of Mobius. There had been rumours for years before his coup that a couple existed but they'd never been officially confirmed. As a result, they were considered a myth by many and judging from Sonic's raised eyebrow; he was one of the sceptical.

"They exist?" he asked?

"Of course they do," the vulpine replied with the enthusiasm returning to his voice. "There's two that I sure of," he said confidently counting off his fingers, "One's with G.U.N in their facility in Central City."

"Pass," Sonic replied quickly, he did not have the best relationship with the Federation or it's military. The last time he'd been there they'd chased him with a giant lorry, arrested him and thrown if in jail all in the space of an afternoon. "They'll never help us."

"So we just have the second option, which, I read about from pre-conquest internet rumour."

Sonic, Amy and Knuckles all grimaced at this, it was hardly sensible to put their faith in unfounded speculation.

"There was an Acorn Kingdom black project before Robotnik launched his coup," the vulpine continued confidently. "They built a highly advanced, holographical AI which they housed in some top secret base called Knothole."

Amy gave the fox a strange look, "the Acorn Kingdom was destroyed, I remember seeing the pictures on the news."

"Yup" Sonic agreed, "Buttnik's first conquest. Took 'em completely by surprise and wiped the army out, made a big show that he'd captured the palace, the royal family and everything."

"I don't think he conquered it as thoroughly as he claims." Tails put in.

"How'd ya figure?"

The vulpine shrugged, "he faces too much resistance for one thing." His fingers tapped frenziedly at the keyboard and after a few seconds a map of the Acorn Kingdom emerged on one part of the screen while some data documents emerged on the over. "I've been hacking some of Robotnik's transmissions for a while now and he's definitely building throughout the country; Prison Labour Camps, Chemical plants, Steel works, Datastores and Robotics factories. It seems he's made the old capital a fortress for himself too."

"Well that certainly suggests he controls the kingdom," Sonic muttered impatiently as he tapped his foot on the floor, "what does this have to do with the Acorn's survival?"

"He's never built within a thirty-mile radius of this," he explained as he zoomed into the south western most corner of the kingdom. The map showed a large green area devoid of any buildings or infrastructure, "The Great Forest."

The group studied the map. From the topography it was obvious to the forest made an ideal defensive position, five hundred square miles of dense woodland strategically located between two low mountain ridges and the coast. The forest itself was far from flat; small hills, crags and river valleys broke up the woodland and two rivers meandered their way through valleys from the mountain ridges and joined together inside the forest a couple of miles from the coast.

"SWATbots go in but never come out again."

The echidna gawped at the map, "You think there is a resistance with a hidden base in there?"

"Exactly, why else would Robotnik keep sending the bots in?"

"Well that sounds possible" Sonic agreed, "but just what does this have to do with the AI in Knothole?"

"I think that base is Knothole."

"That's a jump isn't it?" Amy replied, "It could just be a bunch of bandits."

"It could," Tails admitted, "however, whatever they are, they managed to repulse over twenty large assaults by Robonik's SWATbots. That suggests a really well organised bunch of bandits or more likely the remnants of a proper organization such as the Acorn Kingdom's military who might know where Knothole is."

Amy still wasn't convinced, "and just what do you intend to do; knock on the door shouting, 'Hello, I'm try to find a secretive resistance movement. Can I borrow your computer please?"

The vulpine scoffed defensively, "of course not, my idea's much more technical then that." The pink hedgehog raised her eyebrow inviting the fox to continue.

"I was going to ping them short range radio messages as I did a fly over with the Tornado."

The echidna looked slightly confused, "Isn't that the same thing?" he asked.

Tails looked irritated but Amy cut him off. She was the more protective member of the group and was determined to prevent needlessly risky actions in the field especially from the fox who was still technically a child. "It is, don't argue Tails," she said in a tone which told the fox not to reply. "It's unbelievably reckless. How do you know where they in that forest anyway? its huge."

"I'm going to guess it's somewhere around here," the fox said pointing to the confluence between the two rivers. "It's the flattest bit of land and is perfectly protected on three sides. It's where I'd build it. So that's where I'll start looking." Tails looked at the male hedgehog for a decision, Sonic was after all team leader, "Can we try it Sonic? I just know there is something there and I can't hack this code myself."

The pink hedgehog looked in despair as Sonic appeared to be thinking it over, "you can't seriously be considering this?"

Sonic shrugged, "what's not to like? We're not doing much beside laze around here or raid one of Buttnik's few remaining bases. However, if this works we can take the fight to him on a whole other continent."

Amy looked like she was going to protest but Sonic decided to reassure her, "It'll just be one pass over and I'll go with him to make sure he's safe."

The fox gave a triumphant cheer whilst Amy sighed and put her head in her hands despairing at Sonic's simplicity, "we must be able to come up with something better, surely?"

The cobalt hedgehog smirked at her, "Why? If it works it'll really hurt Eggbreath. You and Knuckles can stay and look after the islands. We'll leave you the Tornado II; that should keep everything safe. Me and kid will be back before you know it," he smiled at the little vulpine, "How long'll it take you to get the Tornado I ready for a long flight?"

"A couple of hours."

"Good we'll leave first thing in the morning then when you've had some sleep and prepped the plane."


End file.
